Columbia County authorities have arrested three suspected accomplices of Justin Anthony Stephens, who was shot and killed while attempting to burglarize an apartment.

Edward Albert Brown III, 19, Jose Lopez-Gamero, 21, and Leonard Jamal Walton, 18, were arrested Saturday and are being held at Columbia County Detention Center without bond.

Investigators said at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Stephens and Walton, both dressed in black and wearing bandanas over their faces, knocked on a Petersburg Square apartment door and forced their way inside.

By correctly spelling “insidious” and “flamboyant,” Rachael Cundey earned her fourth contiguous win at the 2012 local qualifying spelling bee for the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.

Rachael, a seventh-grader at Lakeside Middle School, correctly spelled 15 words to win. Second place was Larisa Crowder, a home school student from Aiken, that stumbled over the Greek-origin word “periphery.”

A Harlem 15-year-old convicted of murder last month for shooting his 14-year-old friend will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Superior Court Judge Michael Annis sentenced Lacy Aaron Schmidt to life in prison without parole plus five years Friday for his Feb. 10 conviction for murder, theft and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

He was convicted of shooting Calahan inside her Miles Road home. Annis highlighted Schmidt's complete lack of emotion during the trial before handing down the stiffest sentence possible.

Homeowner Ginnelle Elliot said in an email that her 3,000-square-foot Williamsburg-style home located in the Stratford subdivision will appear on the show’s segment about affordable homes in America that cost less than $300,000. The segment is scheduled to air at 9 a.m.

The four-bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom home is located on the 4400 block of Andover Drive and was built in 1998.

The brick three-story house currently is listed for sale with Blanchard and Calhoun for $289,900.

For the second time this week, an armed Columbia County resident has stopped a burglary - this time, with fatal results for the would-be burglar.

Justin Anthony Stephens, 19, of Grovetown, was killed Wednesday night after breaking into a Martinez apartment, where the renter's son shot him with a .22-caliber rifle, according to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.